Acronym List

Bicycling Facilities

ASL = Advanced Stop Line (typically, before a BWB; sometimes only to allow room for long vehicles to turn left from the cross street)

BL = Bike Lane

BWB = Bicycle Waiting Box or bike box (between an ASL and the bicyclists’ stop line, or the crosswalk)

CT = Cycle Track

DZBL = Door Zone Bike Lane

FBL = Faux Bike Lane (typically a shoulder that is narrower than a std bike lane, often marked with bike route signs)

RD = Road

SP = Sidepath

SUP = Shared Use Path (formerly called MUP = Multi-Use Path)

Bicyclist Specific Laws

3FP = Three Foot Passing

FTR = Far To Right (discriminatory law that requires only cyclists, and not other drivers, to ride near road edge when in a marked lane. This bad law takes away cyclists’ lane use rights)

MBL = Mandatory Bike Lane (discriminatory law that requires cyclists to use a preferential use lane, whereas other drivers are NOT required to use HOV or Bus preferential use lanes)

MH = Mandatory Helmet

MSP = Mandatory Side-Path (discriminatory law that requires cyclists to use paths that parallel a road. This bad law takes away cyclists roadway rights and in many cases highway rights.)

MSU = Mandatory Shoulder use (discriminatory law that requires cyclists to use shoulders instead of the roadway. This bad law takes away cyclists’ roadway use rights.)

TAR = Two Abreast Riding

BIT = Bicycles Impede Traffic (Impeding traffic law does not exclude bicyclists, as we find in 6 US states: CA, MI, NH, OH, PA, TX)

LRA = Local Regulation (of bicycling movements) Allowed (this means that any city or county can enact its own custom, and often highly restrictive cycling laws, or ban cycling altogether.)

Concepts/Notions

ROS = Right of Speed (The belief that having higher speed than another drivers gives the faster driver the “right” not to be delayed by the slower driver)

LOS = Level Of Service (The measure of effectiveness of a road to drivers, usually a measure of free-flowingness, with a free flowing road having a high LOS and a road with delay or congestion having a low LOS, graded from A to F, like school letter grades) 

BLOS = Bicycle Level Of Service (Often defined in a way that scores perceived “comfort” above traditional LOS metrics like flow/delay)

Roadway/Highway Facilities

TCDs = Traffic Control Devices (signals, signs, barriers/islands and markings) 

RTOL = Right Turn Only Lane (or RTL for Right Turn Lane)

LTOL = Left Turn Only Lane (or LTL for Left Turn Lane)

TWLTL or 2WLTL = Two Way Left Turn Lane (AKA Center Turn Lane)

CTL = Center Turn lane (AKA 2WLTL)

TCD = Traffic Control Device

TL = Traffic Light

SS = Stop Sign

CC = Coffin Corner (or SS for Suicide Slot)

SW = Sidewalk

WCL = Wide Curb Lane (similar to Wide Outside Lane)

WOL = Wide Outside Lane

SLM = Shared Lane Marker (AKA Sharrow)

RS = Rumble Strip

CLRS = Center Line Rumble Strip

RPM = Raised Pavement Marker

2LR = 2-Lane Road = one lane in each direction of travel

3LR = 3-Lane Road = one lane in each direction + CTL

4LR = 4-lane Road = two lanes in each direction of travel

NLR = N-Lane Road = N/2 lanes in each direction (where N = 4, 6, 8, etc…)

Multi-lane road = 2 or more lanes in each direction of travel

RTE = Request To Experiment

BMUFL = Bikes May Use Full Lane

Maneuvers

RT = Right Turn

LT = Left Turn

UT = U-Turn

ROW = Right Of Way

SWSS = Single Witness Suicide Swerve

Salmon = Wrong-way cycling

Ninja = Cycling at night without lights, sometimes even without reflectors

Advocacy Paradigms

BD = Bicycle Driving

VC = Vehicular Cycling

PnP = Paint and Path

SIN = Safety In Numbers

BFC = Bicycle Friendly Community

BFS = Bicycle Friendly State

BFB = Bicycle Friendly Business

BFU = Bicycle Friendly University

Education

ECI Effective Cycling Instructor

LCI = League Cycling Instructor

CS = Cycling Savvy [ http://cyclingsavvy.org ]

CSI = Cycling Savvy Instructor 

Organizations and Standards

FHWA = Federal Highway Administration [ http://www.fhwa.dot.gov ]

MUTCD = Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices [ http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno_2009.htm ]

HDM = Highway Design Manual

NCUTCD = National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices [http://www.ncutcd.org/]

NCUTCD-BTC = ^ Bicycle Technical Committee [http://www.ncutcdbtc.org/]

NCUTLO = National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances [ http://ncutlo.org ]

AASHTO = American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [ http://transportation.org ]

Green Book = AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities [ http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/docs/b_aashtobik.pdf ]

NACTO = National Association of City Transportation Officials [ http://nacto.org ]

NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide [ http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide ]

MDMLS = Model Design Manual for Living Streets [ http://modelstreetdesignmanual.com ]

APBP = Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals [ http://apbp.org ]

LAB = League of American Bicyclists [ http://bikeleague.org ]

LR = LAB Reform [ http://labreform.org ]